Farmed Fish Could Give Humans Mad Cow Disease

[Guest guest]

http://www.naturalnews.com/026666_disease_farmed_fish_mad_cow.html

(NaturalNews) There is probably no illness that has more terrifying symptoms, or

a more ghastly outcome, than variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) -- best

known as mad cow disease. Abnormal proteins called prions found in brain tissue

of cows suffering from bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) can cause vCJD in

humans who eat meat from the animals. These mad cow disease-causing prions can

literally result in people losing their minds because the infectious particles

eat away at the brain, leaving tiny sponge-like holes. There is no treatment

available and death always follows.

 

With government regulations notoriously lax when it comes to testing for BSE in

the food supply, many people have given up eating beef in hopes of protecting

themselves from exposure to mad cow disease. But an article just published in

the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease suggests there may be another ticking time

bomb source of vCJD --farmed fish.

 

In a paper entitled Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Aquaculture, University

of Kentucky neurologist Robert P. Friedland and colleagues point out that fish

consumption is widely recommended because omega-3 fatty acids are known to

reduce the risks of cardiovascular and Alzheimer's diseases. However, the

scientists have doubts that the health benefits of farmed fish outweigh a

potentially deadly danger. " We are concerned that consumption of farmed fish may

provide a means of transmission of infectious prions from cows with bovine

spongiform encephalopathy to humans, causing variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease, "

they stated.

 

Dr. Friedland and his team point out that farmed fish are fedbyproducts rendered

from cows -- a totally unnatural source of food for fish. The risk of

transmission of mad cowdisease to humans who eat farmed fish would seem to be

slim because there are often barriers between species that help prevent

infections. But, according to the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease article, there

are several reasons to be concerned about fish spreading mad cow to humans. 

 

First, fish could be carriers of the disease from eating infected meat products,

even though the fish themselves are not obviously infected or sick. In addition,

it is possible that eating prion-infected cow parts could result in fish

experiencing pathological changes that permit the prion infection to be

transmitted between the two species. Based on these worrisome possibilities, the

scientists are calling for government regulators to ban feeding cow meat or bone

meal to fish until this common practice can be shown to be safe.

 

" We have not proven that it's possible for fish to transmit the disease to

humans. Still, we believe that out of reasonable caution for public health, the

practice of feeding rendered cows to fish should be prohibited. Fish do very

well in the seas without eating cows, " Friedland said in an interview with

the Kentucky Post newspaper. 

 

" The fact that no cases of Creutzfeldt Jakob disease have been linked to eating

farmed fish does not assure that feeding rendered cow parts to fish is safe. The

incubation period of these diseases may last for decades, which makes the

association between feeding practices and infection difficult. Enhanced

safeguards need to be put in place to protect the public, " Friedland stated. 

 

For more information:

 

http://www.j-alz.com/issues/17/vol1...

 

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/bse/

 

http://www.kypost.com/news/local/st...

 

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/vcjd.

 

Muhammad Ahmad Al-Masry

 

64, Muhammad Korayem Street,

 

Gomrok, Alexandria, Egypt

 

Tel: 0020-03-4800555

 

Fax: 0020-03-3082667

 

Web: massrii

 

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